bezzanbob

Dear All.

10 months after looking at teaching in NZ we have a job offer on the desk. Plumb school with good pay and handy benefits (in time accommodation and reduced school fees) so why are we both (my wife and I) not jumping for joy?

Well the general tone of this message board is a clarion call that life isn't always greener on the other side - though given the rainfall in NZ it propably will be!!

Spefically we worry that financially it will be a very bad move because:
We hope to surive on 1 wage ($75K) till our youngest daughter (now 2.5) is old enough for school and wife returns to work.
It is a huge drop in salary in comparative terms.
The high relocation costs for a family of 4 and our house contents.
the high cost of flights to and from the UK (Saturday's NZ Herald in NZ house quoted $1999!)
We don't want to sell our UK house (currently rented out) in case it doesn't work out and rental costs in good regions of Auckland for a 3 bed seem very high.
Ammeneties and sundries seem to mount up (it costs to empty the bin/to go to the dump) in a way they don't here

There are of course many good points such as the lifetsyle (much more relaxed as we know), general countryside and ..... (please remind us)

It doesn't help that we have looked at Oz as well as NZ and that the former notice board is a lot more positive. We have worked in Oz and, have travelled the length and breadth of NZ also, so we have a feel for it all but at present we really don't know which way to turn.

The best advcie came from my sister who said follow your gut instincts - but I've not eaten properly for the past week such is our indecision!

Wise words of counsel would be much appreciated.

B

Cassa

I think it if felt right then you would be excited and ready to get on that plane now. You seem very wise in the way you have researched things. Flights, costs etc. One of the things I heard today from a Welsh couple I had coffee with was that they came here not thinking of the costs of flights home and now their 4 year old only knows their family by photo's and email. They will have saved up by next year to get home to the UKfor 2 weeks but they have not had a holiday since getting here as they have been saving.

Obviously we cannot advise you what to do so I suggest you write down all the reasons you want to leave. All the things you hate about the UK and all the things you like. Then from there work out if you are going to get more of your likes in New Zealand. Being realisitic, for a family of 4 on your salary, you are not going to be visiting the UK any more than every 4 years. 4 people = $8000 if you get good deals. Plus you have to use Kiwi $ when you go over there, which would not go far. Moving would be easier if you had the money from the sale of your house in the UK but I understand that you want to keep it. Wise. We wish we had. We are going home in a few months and are now without a house and off the property ladder.

Good luck. It is a hard decision but remember no decision is forever. If you come and dont like it then you can always make moves to come back to the UK again. Of course others will jump on me for saying that, but sometimes you don't know until you try something.

GeorgeM

I don't know how much equity you have in your UK property, but if you did sell that and used it to finance a home in NZ you would probably find that without a mortgage to pay $75,000 went a reasonably long way here. Higher likelihood that you would enjoy it here and not want to go back.

If you hang on to your UK and rent it out you don't get this kick-start benefit, so end up paying a large slice of your income in rent in NZ (plus potentially some topping up of the UK mortgage if the rent doesn't completely cover it or you can't get or lose tenants) and $75,000 starts to melt away to a far less attractive salary. Which means that you can't take advantage of many things - travelling around the country and the pacific region, the cultural activities, etc. - so get fed up and want to return home. Which is lucky because you still have your house to go back to.

Self fulfilling prophesies?

It's a real dilemma, and the same as we went through. We opted for the sell up, take the money and run option and on the whole we don't regret it. There are times when we think that we wouldn't be able to get back into the UK housing market if we were to try now, but even that could be more of a perception than a reality. According to figures I read in the UK Economist yesterday NZ house prices have moved ahead far more quickly than in UK over the last couple of years which when coupled to the rise of the kiwi dollar means that if we sold up now and converted back to pounds we would theoretically be able to buy back a greater percentage of our house in the UK than we owned when we left (were it for sale). In five years time the equation could be the other way round and in ten it could be back in NZ's favour again.

It's tempting to keep the house in the UK so that you can come back to it if things don't work out. But the very act of doing something positive about moving to NZ suggests that you're not 100% satisfied with the UK anyway, so keeping the house could be seen as much as a disabling security blanket as an enabling insurance policy.

Writing down a pluses and minuses list as suggested earlier is a very good idea for pointing you in the right direction.

BTW my wife is a teacher (for 20 years) and finds her NZ school the friendliest staffroom she has ever worked with, with very supportive staff. But that's on the experience of one school in NZ (but of many from inner city comps to top flight selective grammars in the UK).

bezzanbob

The house option isn't a starter given we have only owned it for 2 years. Its rented from the off and even though the current tennants leave in three weeks time we've already had several viewings. Financially working well and not enough equity to represnt anything other that 40-50% of the cost of a decent 3 bedder.

Also, the job may well provide a house in the very near future which would remove the sell in UK to buy in NZ to rent scenario. I estimate that a three bedroomed home in Auckland is worth $350 per week - say $1500 per month and thus approaching $18,000 per year. Huge bonus but no cast iron guarantee and no confirmed date ....

I'm sure some of you are wondering why have even applied for an NZ job - easy its a great place to live (been there) and the locals are (in our expereeince) warm and friendly. Also having taught and dealt with several kiwi pupils in the past and they have all been great ambassadors for the country and system! The job is enticing nand provides a nice stepping stone form my presnt school (17 years this summer hveing been employed straight from Uni) into an excellent school, good position and decent career prospects. The head has even taken the trouble to phone several times so they clearly want me which is a nice feeling ....

Should see the family more often but will we end up watching every penny and saving to return for UK visits to family? Will we get to enjoy living in NZ or will it become a finaicial chore? Freinds have emailed us to day and they say "We have been shocked how much it costs to live here. My salary is $85k plus $10k bonus so I get the $85k/126 on a fortnightly basis. Groceries are surprisingly expensive given that so much is grown over here. I dont know whether it is just the early costs of restocking the larder but we seem to be spending most of my salary with rent and groceries and not really doing a lot else that would cost too much money. We have got to keep an eye on it for the moment."

O to think of something else!

And by the way the temp working visa won't be in place by the time I'm required to resign ........ but the NZ school ahve undertaken to pay my wage till Xmas should it al go pear shaped. Fine and dandy but it would mean relocating in the UK etc.

B

Don

You have forgotten income tax, which means the free accomodation might be worth more like NZD30K pa.